Method and apparatus for maintaining priority and quality of service across multi-user devices

ABSTRACT

A first mobile station operating on a first network according to a first network protocol receives a proxy request for access to a network resource, by from a second mobile station operating on a second network according to a second network protocol. The proxy request is received according to a third network protocol. The first mobile station determines a priority of the proxy request; accepts or denies the proxy request based on the determined priority of the proxy request; allocates resources to the proxy request, if the proxy request is accepted; and serves as a proxy mobile station for the second mobile station to access the network resource.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present application is a divisional application of, and claimspriority to, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/930,665, filed in theUnited States Patent Office on Jun. 28, 2013, the entire contents ofwhich are incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure relates generally to enabling a mobile stationoperating according a first wireless access technology to maintainpriority and quality of service for certain application services via aproxy mobile station operating according to a second wireless accesstechnology when a connection between the mobile station and a networkoperating according to the first wireless access technology iscompromised.

BACKGROUND

Narrowband communications systems are typically used by public safetyagencies, for example, emergency first responder organizations, such aspolice or fire departments, or public works organizations. Examples ofsuch narrowband systems include a Land Mobile Radio (LMR) system or aTerrestrial Trunked Radio (TETRA) system. Users on these narrowbandsystems may communicate via mobile or portable user terminals, such asportable narrowband two-way radios, mobile radios, dispatch consoles, orother similar voice communication entities that communicate with oneanother via wired and/or wireless networks. Public safety organizationsmay choose these narrowband systems because they provide improvedend-to-end voice quality and efficient group communication, use advancedcryptography, enable centralized logging of calls, and/or are associatedwith lower delay and higher reliability.

A portion of the broadband spectrum, e.g., the 700 MHz spectrum in theUnited States, has been allocated for public safety use. All publicsafety agencies and all applications used by these public safetyagencies are expected to share this portion of the broadband spectrum.Therefore, in addition to using narrowband systems, public safetyagencies may also communicate on cellular broadband systems. An exampleof such a broadband system is one that operates in accordance with theLong Term Evolution (LTE) signaling standard. Broadband mobile devicesused in broadband systems may be, for example, laptops, tablets,personal digital assistants (PDA), smart phones, or other similarbroadband mobile devices that communicate with one another via wiredand/or wireless networks. In addition to public safety users, userequipment operated by secondary users (for example, utility orgovernment workers) and/or commercial users may also share the portionof the broadband spectrum that has been allocated for public safety use.

Broadband mobile devices may be connected to network resources that arededicated to certain application services. For example, the broadbandmobile devices may also be connected, via a broadband radio accessnetwork, to a broadband push-to-talk server or gateway that is dedicatedto providing resources for push-to-talk operations. Narrowband mobile orportable user terminals operating on, for example, an LMR system mayalso be connected to the broadband push-to-talk server or gateway viathe LMR system. This allows the broadband mobile devices and thenarrowband mobile or portable user terminals to use the same dedicatedresources associated with a given application service.

Because of all of the groups of users that are allowed to operate on theportion of the broadband spectrum that has been allocated for publicsafety, this portion of the broadband spectrum may become congested orcoverage to a given broadband network may be lost when, for example, anincident occurs within a geographical area. Incidents may include, forexample, a fire, a terrorist attack or another emergency. Consider anexample where a large scale attack is carried out within a geographicalarea. In addition to broadband mobile devices being used by publicsafety agencies within the vicinity of the incident, user equipmentoperated by secondary users and/or commercial users are likely to try toaccess the portion of the broadband spectrum that has been allocated forpublic safety use. This is likely to lead to congestion on broadbandnetworks operating within that spectrum or loss of access to thebroadband networks for some or all of the broadband mobile devices inthe geographical area, including those used by public safety agencies.When a broadband mobile device is out of a broadband coverage area ordetects that an associated broadband network is congested, the broadbandmobile device may either drop all voice and/or data services or providepoor quality of service. For example, if the broadband mobile device isassociated with a congested broadband network, information sent fromand/or received by the broadband mobile device may have longer delays orpoor audio quality.

In addition to the broadband mobile devices operating within thevicinity of an incident, there are likely to be narrowband mobile orportable user terminals operating within the vicinity. Each of thebroadband mobile devices and the mobile or portable user terminals(collectively referred to as mobile stations) may include one or morelocal area network or personal area network transceivers, such as, aWi-Fi transceiver or a Bluetooth transceiver for device to devicecommunications. Therefore, the mobile stations may further be configuredto form an ad-hoc network. An “ad-hoc network” refers to aself-configuring network of geographically-distributed mobile stationsconnected by wireless links (e.g., radio frequency communicationchannels). The ad-hoc networks could be built based on a wide bandprotocol, such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or Zigbee. This enables mobilestations in an ad-hoc network to communicate with each other without thesupport of an infrastructure-based network. Therefore, even when thebroadband mobile devices lose broadband access, these broadband mobiledevices can still communicate with other mobile stations in the ad-hocnetwork. However, these broadband mobile devices may be unable to usethe ad-hoc network to access certain network resources and thus beunable to maintain or provide quality of service for certain applicationservices.

Accordingly, there is a need for an improved method and apparatus forenabling a mobile station operating according a first wireless accesstechnology to maintain priority and quality of service for certainapplication services via a proxy mobile station operating according to asecond wireless access technology when a connection between the mobilestation and a network operating according to the first wireless accesstechnology is compromised.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

The accompanying figures, where like reference numerals refer toidentical or functionally similar elements throughout the separateviews, together with the detailed description below, are incorporated inand form part of the specification, and serve to further illustrateembodiments of concepts that include the claimed invention, and explainvarious principles and advantages of those embodiments.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system that may be used in accordancewith some embodiments.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a mobile station used in accordance withsome embodiments.

FIG. 3A is a flow diagram of how a proxy mobile station is selected inaccordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 3B is a continuation of the flow diagram of FIG. 3A illustratinghow a proxy mobile station is selected in accordance with someembodiments.

FIG. 4A is a flow diagram of how a proxy mobile station handles a proxyrequest in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 4B is a continuation of the flow diagram of FIG. 4A illustratinghow a proxy mobile station handles a proxy request in accordance withsome embodiments.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a mobile station used in accordance withsome embodiments.

Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures areillustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily beendrawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements inthe figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help toimprove understanding of embodiments of the present invention.

The apparatus and method components have been represented whereappropriate by conventional symbols in the drawings, showing only thosespecific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments ofthe present invention so as not to obscure the disclosure with detailsthat will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the arthaving the benefit of the description herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Some embodiments are directed to methods and apparatuses for selecting aproxy mobile station. A first mobile station operating on a firstnetwork according to a first network protocol determines that access toa network resource on the first network is unavailable or reduced. Thefirst mobile station communicates, using a third network protocol, withat least one second mobile station within a geographical area. The atleast one second mobile station operates on a second network accordingto a second network protocol. The first mobile station examinesinformation received from each of the second mobile stations in thegeographical vicinity and selects one second mobile station as a proxymobile station based on the examined information. The first mobilestation sends a proxy request to the proxy mobile station using thethird network protocol and accesses the network resource via the proxymobile station using the third network protocol.

Other embodiments are methods and apparatuses for serving as a proxymobile station. A first mobile station operating on a first networkaccording to a first network protocol receives a proxy request foraccess to a network resource, by from a second mobile station operatingon a second network according to a second network protocol. The proxyrequest is received according to a third network protocol. The firstmobile station determines a priority of the proxy request; accepts ordenies the proxy request based on the determined priority of the proxyrequest; allocates resources to the proxy request, if the proxy requestis accepted; and serves as a proxy mobile station for the second mobilestation to access the network resource.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system that may be used in accordancewith some embodiments. System 100 includes at least two networks 102(i.e., a first network shown as 102 a and a second network shown 102 b),each of which may operate according to a unique or different wirelessaccess network (WAN) technology from that being used by the othernetwork. For example, network 102 a may operate according to a firstnetwork protocol and network 102 b may operate according to a secondnetwork protocol. Non-limiting examples of WAN technologies or WANnetwork protocols that may be used by each network 102 may include theLand Mobile Radio (LMR) Project 25 (P25) protocol, LMR conventionalprotocol, Long Term Evolution (LTE) protocol, Code Division MultipleAccess (CDMA) protocol, Universal Mobile Telecommunication System(UMTS), or any IEEE 802.11 protocol. For example, network 102 a may be abroadband radio access network (RAN) that operates in accordance withthe LTE signaling standard and connects core network components (notshown) and broadband mobile devices, shown as the mobile station 104 aand 104 e. The broadband mobile devices may be, for example, laptops,tablets, personal digital assistants (PDA), smart phones, or othersimilar broadband mobile devices that communicate with one another viawired and/or wireless networks. The broadband mobile devices may beconfigured to operate on the portion of the broadband spectrum allocatedfor public safety use.

Network 102 b may be, for example, a narrowband LMR system that is usedby public safety agencies, for example, emergency first responderorganizations, such as police or fire departments, or public worksorganizations. Network 102 b allows for connectivity between networkcomponents (not shown) and narrowband devices shown as mobile stations104 b, 104 c and 104 d. (Collectively, mobile stations 104 a-104 e maybe referred to herein as mobile stations 104.) The narrowband devicesmay be, for example, portable narrowband two-way radios, mobile radios,dispatch consoles, or other similar voice communication entities thatcommunicate with one another via wired and/or wireless networks.

Mobile stations 104 may be connected to network resources that arededicated to certain application services. Non-limiting examples ofnetwork resources that mobile stations 104 may be connected to includenetwork resources dedicated to push-to-talk operations, telephony, Voiceover LTE (VoLTE), IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) services, video,text/multimedia messaging, streaming applications, social network data,presence, location, status, data applications, web services, Web realtime communication (WebRTC), sensor information, analytics information,and/or computer aided dispatch queries. FIG. 1 shows an example wheremobile stations 104 a and 104 e are connected, via the broadband network102 a, to a broadband push-to-talk server/gateway 106 that is dedicatedto providing resources for push-to-talk operations. Narrowband mobilestations 104 b, 104 c and 104 d are also connected to the broadbandpush-to-talk server/gateway 106 via the narrowband network 102 b. Thisallows the broadband mobile devices (i.e., mobile stations 104 a and 104e) and the narrowband devices (i.e., mobile stations 104 b, 104 c and104 d) to use the same dedicated resource for push-to-talk operations.Therefore, FIG. 1 illustrates that two or more of the mobile stations104 may belong to a same talk group (i.e., Group A or Group B),regardless of the network being used by each mobile station. Forexample, mobile station 104 a is shown to belong to the same talk group(i.e., Group A) as mobile stations 104 b and 104 d.

Each mobile station 104 may include one or more local area network orpersonal area network transceivers operating in accordance a thirdnetwork protocol such as a Wi-Fi transceiver perhaps operating with anIEEE 802.11 standard (e.g., 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g), an IEEE 802.15standard, a 3GPP ProSe standard, a Land Mobile Radio Direct Modetechnology, or a Bluetooth transceiver, for mobile station to mobilestation communications in, for example, an ad-hoc network. When one ormore of mobile stations 104 operates within the same geographicalvicinity, the mobile stations operating within the same geographicalvicinity may form an ad-hoc network where the mobile stations cancommunicate with each other over a wireless media without the support ofan infrastructure-based or wired network.

When a network (102 a or 102 b) is disabled or congested, the mobilestations operating on that network may be unable to fully access thenetwork resources and may thus be unable to fully provide thoseapplications services associated with the currently unavailable networkresources. For example, when an incident such as a large scale emergencyevent occurs within geographical area A, one or more of the networks inthat geographical vicinity may become congested or disabled. During thisperiod, the mobile stations connected to the congested or disablednetwork may be unable to fully access network resources on the congestednetwork. Subsequent to detecting the loss or reduction of networkaccess, a mobile station without full network access may be configuredto locate other mobile stations operating on other networks within thegeographical vicinity via, for example, a Wi-Fi transceiver.

Subsequent to connecting with one or more other mobile stationsoperating on other networks within the geographical vicinity, via alocal area network transceiver, the mobile station without networkaccess is configured to evaluate the information received from each ofthe one or more other mobile stations in order to select a mobilestation that may potentially serve as a proxy for the mobile stationwithout network access. The proxy mobile station will be used to relayvoice and/or data messages to and from the mobile station withoutnetwork access. The mobile station without network access may select aproxy mobile station based on, for example, the run-time attributes ofthe proxy mobile station; the capabilities of the proxy mobile station;the priority associated with the application(s), the user and/or theincident associated with the proxy mobile station; and/or the priorityassociated with the application(s), the user and/or the incidentassociated with the mobile station without network access. Non-limitingexamples of the run-time attributes on the proxy mobile station mayinclude the battery life, the WAN signal strength, the WAN technologybeing used, or the available WAN resource(s) on the proxy mobilestation. Non-limiting examples of the capabilities of the proxy mobilestation may be the WAN technology, the processing capabilities, and/oravailable memory and resource(s) on the proxy mobile station.

Consider an example where a mobile station, for example, mobile station104 a, is connected to broadband push-to-talk server/gateway 106 vianetwork 102 a. When an incident occurs and the connection between mobilestation 104 a and network 102 a is disabled or the mobile station'snetwork access is reduced, mobile station 104 a may communicate, via itsWi-Fi transceiver, with mobile stations 104 b and 104 c operating onnetwork 102 b within the geographical vicinity of the incident, i.e.,geographical area A. Mobile station 104 a may select one of mobilestations 104 b and 104 c to act as a proxy mobile station in order formobile station 104 a to continue to send/receive push-to-talk messages.Mobile station 104 a may select a proxy mobile station based on, forexample, the push-to-talk attributes such as the talk group(s)associated with each of mobile station 104 b or 104 c or the talkgroup/channel configured on each of mobile station 104 b or 104 c.Mobile station 104 a may also select the proxy mobile station based on,for example, the data attributes such as the data capability of each ofmobile station 104 b or 104 c or the data application capability (e.g.,text and/or multimedia messaging, telephony, video, push-to-talk)configured on each of mobile station 104 b or 104 c. Mobile station 104a may also select the proxy mobile station based on, for example,user-reachability (e.g., whether each of mobile station 104 b or 104 ccan be reached in one hop or multi-hops) or role-reachability (e.g.,whether each of mobile station 104 b or 104 c has the same security inplace to access critical data that can be accessed by mobile station 104a). The priority or role assigned to the user of each of mobile station104 b or 104 c may also be a criterion used in selecting the proxymobile station. The ability on each of mobile station 104 b or 104 c formobile station 104 a to remotely control the talk group/channel may alsobe a criterion used in selecting the proxy mobile station. In addition,additional criteria that may be used to select the proxy mobile stationincludes whether or not each of mobile station 104 b or 104 c isoperating in infrastructure mode or direct mode; the signal attributessuch as the received signal strength indicator (RSSI) or bandwidthassociated with each of mobile stations 104 b or 104 c; and theactivities (e.g., active talker vs. listener) of the user of each ofmobile stations 104 b or 104 c.

If mobile station 104 a selects, for example, mobile station 104 b toserve as the proxy mobile station, mobile station 104 a performs ahandshake with mobile station 104 b. For example, mobile station 104 aand mobile station 104 b may exchange messages that pair the two devicesbased on an ad-hoc protocol, for example, a Wi-Fi protocol or Bluetoothprotocol. Subsequent to successfully completing the handshake, mobilestation 104 b receives a request to serve as a proxy for one or moreapplication services being executed on mobile station 104 a. Forexample, mobile station 104 b may receive a proxy request to serve as aproxy for push-to-talk operations being executed on mobile station 104a.

Mobile station 104 b may determine the priority of the proxy request byconsidering, for example, the type of application service(s) mobilestation 104 a is requesting access to, the incident type, the grouppriority, and/or the role of the user associated with mobile station 104a. Mobile station 104 b may also determine the priority of existingapplications running on mobile station 104 b by, for example, takinginto consideration the type of application(s) being executed on mobilestation 104 b, the incident type, the emergency status, the grouppriority, and/or the role of the user associated with mobile station 104b. If mobile station 104 b determines that the priority associated withthe mobile station 104 a is lower than a predefined threshold and/or theresources and capabilities available on mobile station 104 b areinsufficient to support the proxy request, mobile station 104 b mayreject the proxy request.

If, on the other hand, mobile station 104 b determines that the priorityassociated with the mobile station 104 a is higher than the predefinedthreshold and/or the resources and capabilities available on mobilestation 104 b are sufficient to support the proxy request, mobilestation 104 b may determine if a preemption feature is enabled on mobilestation 104 b. If the preemption feature is enabled, mobile station 104b identifies the application service(s) being executed on mobile station104 b and/or mobile station 104 a that are assigned a priority lowerthan a preemption threshold and preempts those applications from beingexecuted. Mobile station 104 b may then allocate resources that werebeing used by the preempted applications for the proxy request andsignals to mobile station 104 a that mobile station 104 b may serve as aproxy for the requested application service(s).

If the preemption feature on mobile station 104 b is disabled, mobilestation 104 b may queue proxy request(s) received from mobile station104 a until resources on mobile station 104 b become available. Mobilestation 104 b may evaluate the priority of the proxy request(s) in orderto determine queue locations on mobile station 104 b. When resources onmobile station 104 b become available, mobile station 104 b may allocatethose resources for the proxy request(s) and signals to mobile station104 a that mobile station 104 b may serve as a proxy for the requestedapplication service(s).

Subsequent to receiving an indication from mobile station 104 b thatmobile station 104 b will serve as a proxy for mobile station 104 a,mobile station 104 a may begin to use mobile station 104 b as a proxyfor application services. In some embodiments, the user of mobilestation 104 b would be assigned a higher priority so that mobile station104 b would only serve as a proxy for mobile station 104 a when the userof mobile station 104 b is not using the resources on mobile station 104b. In some embodiments, depending on the role/priority assigned to theuser of the mobile station 104 a, the user of mobile station 104 b couldinterrupt the proxied application services being directed to mobilestation 104 a.

When a status of mobile station 104 b changes, mobile station 104 b maysend updated information indicating such change to collaborating mobilestation 104 a at runtime. For example, if the talk group/channel onmobile station 104 b is changed or if the radio frequency conditions onmobile station 104 b changes, mobile station 104 b may send updatedinformation indicating a change in a talk group/channel or in radiofrequency conditions to mobile station 104 a at runtime. Subsequent toreceiving this information, mobile station 104 a may dynamicallyre-select a different mobile station as its proxy.

The proxy mobile station (i.e., mobile station 104 b) may be configuredto provide information that informs the user of mobile station 104 bthat it is being used as a proxy. Using an example where mobile station104 b is serving as a proxy for push-to-talk operations, mobile station104 b may be configured to play out or display information associatedwith the proxied push-to-talk audio. A mobile station 104 may also beconfigured to serve as a proxy for one or more mobile stations. Forexample, if multiple mobile stations are seeking a proxy, after a mobilestation is selected as the proxy for a first mobile station, if thereare still available resources on the proxy mobile station, the samemobile station may serve as a proxy for other mobile stations. In someembodiments, mobile stations seeking a proxy may be allowed to useresources on the proxy mobile station based on, for example, thepriority assigned to each mobile station seeking a proxy, the roles ofthe user of each mobile station seeking a proxy or other informationthat indicates that one mobile station is to be given a higher prioritythan another mobile station.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a mobile station 200, such as mobilestations 104 a-104 e, used in accordance with some embodiments. Themobile station includes a communications unit 202 coupled to a commondata and address bus 217 of a processing unit 203. The mobile stationmay also include an input unit (e.g., keypad, pointing device, etc.)206, an output transducer unit (e.g., speaker) 220, an input transducerunit (e.g., a microphone) (MIC) 221, and a display screen 205, eachcoupled to be in communication with the processing unit 203.

The processing unit 203 may include an encoder/decoder 211 with anassociated code ROM 212 for storing data for encoding and decodingvoice, data, control, or other signals that may be transmitted orreceived by the mobile station. The processing unit 203 may furtherinclude a microprocessor 213 coupled, by the common data and address bus217, to the encoder/decoder 211, a character ROM 214, a RAM 204, and astatic memory 216. The processing unit 203 may also include a digitalsignal processor (DSP) 219, coupled to the speaker 220, the microphone221, and the common data and address bus 217, for operating on audiosignals received from one or more of the communications unit 202, thestatic memory 216, and the microphone 221.

The communications unit 202 may include an RF interface 209 configurableto communicate with network components, and other user equipment withinits communication range. The communications unit 202 may include one ormore broadband and/or narrowband transceivers 208, such as an Long TermEvolution (LTE) transceiver, a Third Generation (3G) (3GGP or 3GGP2)transceiver, an Association of Public Safety Communication Officials(APCO) Project 25 (P25) transceiver, a Digital Mobile Radio (DMR)transceiver, a Terrestrial Trunked Radio (TETRA) transceiver, a WiMAXtransceiver perhaps operating in accordance with an IEEE 802.16standard, and/or other similar type of wireless transceiver configurableto communicate via a wireless network for infrastructure communications.The communications unit 202 may include one or more local area networkor personal area network transceivers such as Wi-Fi transceiver perhapsoperating in accordance with an IEEE 802.11 standard (e.g., 802.11a,802.11b, 802.11g), or a Bluetooth transceiver, for subscriber device tosubscriber device communications. The transceivers may be coupled to acombined modulator/demodulator 210 that is coupled to theencoder/decoder 211. The character ROM 214 stores code for decoding orencoding data such as control, request, or instruction messages, channelchange messages, and/or data or voice messages that may be transmittedor received by the mobile station. Static memory 216 may store operatingcode associated with processing a proxy request.

FIGS. 3A and 3B depict a flow diagram illustrating how a proxy mobilestation is selected in accordance with some embodiments. At 310, a firstnetwork operating according to a first WAN protocol is disabled orcongested so a first mobile station operating on the first network isunable to access network resources and provide applications servicesassociated with the network resources. At 320, subsequent to detectingthe loss of or reduction in network service, the first mobile stationlocates other mobile stations operating on a second network within thesame geographical vicinity via a local area network or personal areanetwork transceiver, where the second network operates according to asecond, different WAN protocol.

At 330, the first mobile station obtains from, and evaluates,information from one or more mobile stations operating on the secondnetwork within the geographical vicinity. At 340, the first mobilestation selects a proxy mobile station from the one or more mobilestations operating on the second network based on, for example, therun-time attributes of each mobile station operating on the secondnetwork; the capabilities of each mobile station operating on the secondnetwork; the priority associated with the application(s), user and/orincident associated with each mobile station operating on the secondnetwork; and/or the priority associated with the application(s), userand/or incident associated with the first mobile station. At 350,subsequent to selecting a second mobile station operating on the secondnetwork as a potential proxy, the first mobile station performs ahandshake with the second mobile station. At 360, after successfullycompleting the handshake, the first mobile station sends a proxy requestto the second mobile station for the second mobile station to serve as aproxy for one or more application services being executed on the firstmobile station.

At 370, subsequent to receiving a positive response to the proxy requestfrom the second mobile station, the first mobile station may begin touse the second mobile station as a proxy for application services. At380, when a status of the second mobile station changes, for example, achange in a talk group/channel or a change in radio frequency conditionsassociated with the second mobile station, the first mobile station mayreceive updated information indicating such change from the secondmobile station at runtime. At 390, subsequent to receiving the updatedinformation, the first mobile station may dynamically re-select adifferent mobile station as its proxy.

FIGS. 4A and 4B depict a flow diagram illustrating how a proxy mobilestation handles a proxy request in accordance with some embodiments. At410, a first mobile station on a first network operating according to afirst WAN protocol receives, via a local area network or personal areanetwork transceiver on the first mobile station, a proxy request toserve as a proxy for application services being executed on a secondmobile station on a second network operating according to a second,different WAN protocol. At 420, the first mobile station determines apriority of the proxy request by considering, for example, the type ofapplication services the second mobile station is requesting access to,an incident type if the proxy request is the result of an occurrence ofan incident, a priority associated with the requested applicationservice (e.g., a priority of a talk group if the proxy request is foraccess to push-to-talk services), and/or the role of a user of thesecond mobile station. At 430, the first mobile station determines apriority of existing applications being executed on the first mobilestation by also taking into consideration, for example, the type ofapplication services being executed on the first mobile station, theincident type if the proxy request is the result of an occurrence of anincident, the emergency status associated with the first mobile station,and/or the role of a user of the first mobile station.

At 440, if the first mobile station determines that the priority of thesecond mobile station is lower than a threshold and/or the resourcesavailable on the first mobile station are insufficient to support proxyrequest, the first mobile station may reject the proxy request. At 450,if the first mobile station determines that the priority of the secondmobile station is higher than the threshold and/or the resourcesavailable on the first mobile station are sufficient to support theproxy request, the first mobile station may determine if a preemptionfeature is enabled on the first mobile station. At 460, if thepreemption feature is enabled, the first mobile station identifiesapplication service(s) being executed on the first mobile station and/orthe second mobile station that are assigned a priority lower than apreemption threshold and the first mobile station preempts thoseapplications from being executed. At 470, the first mobile station thenallocates the preempted resources to the proxy requests and signals tothe second mobile station that the first mobile station will serve as aproxy for the requested application service(s).

At 480, if the preemption feature on the first mobile station isdisabled, the first mobile station may queue proxy request(s) receivedfrom the second mobile station until resources on the first mobilestation become available. At 490, the first mobile station may evaluatethe priority of proxy requests in order to determine queue locations onthe first mobile station. At 495, when resources on the first mobilestation become available, the first mobile station allocates resourcesfor the proxy request(s) and signals to the second mobile station thatthe first mobile station will serve as a proxy for the requestedapplication service(s).

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a mobile station used in accordance withsome embodiments. A receiving unit 502 of the mobile station, such ascommunication unit 202 of mobile station 200, operates on a firstnetwork according to a first network protocol and is configured toreceive a proxy request for access to a network resource from a secondmobile station operating on a second network according to a secondnetwork protocol. The proxy request is received according to a thirdnetwork protocol. Therefore, receiving unit 502, includes a firstreceiving component 504 configured to receive information sent accordingto the first network protocol and a second receiving component 506configured to receive information sent according to the third networkprotocol. The mobile station further includes a processing unit 508,such as processing unit 203 of mobile station 200, configured todetermine a priority of the proxy request, accept or deny the proxyrequest based on the determined priority of the proxy request, allocateresources to the proxy request, if the proxy request is accepted, andoperate the mobile station as a proxy mobile station for the secondmobile station to access the network resource. The mobile stationfurther includes a transmitting unit 510, such as communication unit 202of mobile station 200, configured to send information to and receiveinformation from the second mobile station according to the thirdnetwork protocol.

In the foregoing specification, specific embodiments have beendescribed. However, one of ordinary skill in the art appreciates thatvarious modifications and changes can be made without departing from thescope of the invention as set forth in the claims below. Accordingly,the specification and figures are to be regarded in an illustrativerather than a restrictive sense, and all such modifications are intendedto be included within the scope of present teachings.

The benefits, advantages, solutions to problems, and any element(s) thatmay cause any benefit, advantage, or solution to occur or become morepronounced are not to be construed as a critical, required, or essentialfeatures or elements of any or all the claims. The invention is definedsolely by the appended claims including any amendments made during thependency of this application and all equivalents of those claims asissued.

Moreover in this document, relational terms such as first and second,top and bottom, and the like may be used solely to distinguish oneentity or action from another entity or action without necessarilyrequiring or implying any actual such relationship or order between suchentities or actions. The terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “has”,“having,” “includes”, “including,” “contains”, “containing” or any othervariation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, suchthat a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises, has,includes, contains a list of elements does not include only thoseelements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherentto such process, method, article, or apparatus. An element proceeded by“comprises . . . a”, “has . . . a”, “includes . . . a”, “contains . . .a” does not, without more constraints, preclude the existence ofadditional identical elements in the process, method, article, orapparatus that comprises, has, includes, contains the element. The terms“a” and “an” are defined as one or more unless explicitly statedotherwise herein. The terms “substantially”, “essentially”,“approximately”, “about” or any other version thereof, are defined asbeing close to as understood by one of ordinary skill in the art, and inone non-limiting embodiment the term is defined to be within 20%, inanother embodiment within 5%, in another embodiment within 1% and inanother embodiment within 0.5%. The term “coupled” as used herein isdefined as connected, although not necessarily directly and notnecessarily mechanically. A device or structure that is “configured” ina certain way is configured in at least that way, but may also beconfigured in ways that are not listed.

It will be appreciated that some embodiments may be comprised of one ormore generic or specialized processors (or “processing devices”) such asmicroprocessors, digital signal processors, customized processors andfield programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) and unique stored programinstructions (including both software and firmware) that control the oneor more processors to implement, in conjunction with certainnon-processor circuits, some, most, or all of the functions of themethod and/or apparatus described herein. For example, the mobilestations of FIGS. 1 and/or 2 may comprise a set of instructions (perhapsstored in a volatile or non-volatile computer readable medium) that,when executed by a processor, perform some or all of the steps set forthin FIGS. 3-4 and the corresponding text. Alternatively, some or allfunctions could be implemented by a state machine that has no storedprogram instructions, or in one or more application specific integratedcircuits (ASICs), in which each function or some combinations of certainof the functions are implemented as custom logic. Of course, acombination of the two approaches could be used.

Moreover, an embodiment can be implemented as a computer-readablestorage medium having computer readable code stored thereon forprogramming a computer (e.g., comprising a processor) to perform amethod as described and claimed herein. Examples of suchcomputer-readable storage mediums include, but are not limited to, ahard disk, a CD-ROM, an optical storage device, a magnetic storagedevice, a ROM (Read Only Memory), a PROM (Programmable Read OnlyMemory), an EPROM (Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory), an EEPROM(Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory) and a Flashmemory. Further, it is expected that one of ordinary skill,notwithstanding possibly significant effort and many design choicesmotivated by, for example, available time, current technology, andeconomic considerations, when guided by the concepts and principlesdisclosed herein will be readily capable of generating such softwareinstructions and programs and ICs with minimal experimentation.

The Abstract of the Disclosure is provided to allow the reader toquickly ascertain the nature of the technical disclosure. It issubmitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpretor limit the scope or meaning of the claims. In addition, in theforegoing Detailed Description, it can be seen that various features aregrouped together in various embodiments for the purpose of streamliningthe disclosure. This method of disclosure is not to be interpreted asreflecting an intention that the claimed embodiments require morefeatures than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as thefollowing claims reflect, inventive subject matter lies in less than allfeatures of a single disclosed embodiment. Thus the following claims arehereby incorporated into the Detailed Description, with each claimstanding on its own as a separately claimed subject matter.

We claim:
 1. A method for selecting a proxy mobile station, the methodcomprising, determining, by a first mobile station operating on a firstnetwork according to a first network protocol, that access to a networkresource on the first network is unavailable or reduced; communicating,by the first mobile station using a third network protocol, with aplurality of mobile stations within a predefined range, the plurality ofmobile stations operating on a second network according to a secondnetwork protocol; examining, by the first mobile station, informationreceived from each of the plurality of mobile stations in the predefinedrange and selecting a mobile station of the plurality of mobile stationsas a proxy mobile station based on the examined information; andsending, by the first mobile station using the third network protocol, aproxy request to the proxy mobile station, and accessing, using thethird network protocol, the network resource via the proxy mobilestation.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the accessing comprisesaccessing the network resource dedicated to at least one of push-to-talkoperations, telephony, Voice over Long Term Evolution (VoLTE), IPMultimedia Subsystem services, video, text or multimedia messaging,streaming applications, social network data, presence, location, status,data applications, web services, Web real time communication, sensorinformation, analytics information, or computer aided dispatch queries.3. The method of claim 2, wherein the examining comprises examining atleast one of: run-time attributes of each of the plurality of mobilestations, capabilities of each of the plurality of mobile stations, apriority associated with at least one of an application, a user or anincident associated with each of the plurality of mobile stations, or apriority associated with at least one of an application, a user or anincident associated with the first mobile station.
 4. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the accessing comprises accessing the network resourcevia the proxy mobile station subsequent to receiving a positive responseto the proxy request from the proxy mobile station.
 5. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising sending, by the first mobile station, asecond proxy request to at least one other mobile station subsequent toreceiving a status update from the proxy mobile station, using the atleast one other mobile station as a new proxy mobile station, andaccessing the network resource via the new proxy mobile station.
 6. Themethod of claim 1, wherein a user of the first mobile station isdifferent from a user of each of the plurality of mobile stations. 7.The method of claim 1, wherein one of the first network protocol and thesecond network protocol is a broadband network protocol and the othernetwork protocol of the first network protocol and the second networkprotocol is a narrowband network protocol.
 8. The method of claim 7,wherein the third network protocol is one of a Wi-Fi protocol, anInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers 802.15 protocol, aThird Generation Partnership Project ProSe protocol, a Land Mobile RadioDirect Mode protocol, a Bluetooth protocol, or a Zigbee protocol.
 9. Amobile station comprising: a communications unit comprising a firsttransceiver, the first transceiver being configured to communicate overa first network according to a first network protocol, and a secondtransceiver, the second transceiver being configured to communicateusing a third network protocol; a processing unit; and a memory devicethat stores operating code that, when executed by the processing unit,causes the processing unit to perform the functions of: determining thataccess to a network resource on the first network is unavailable orreduced; communicating, using the third network protocol, with aplurality of mobile stations within a predefined range, the plurality ofmobile stations operating on a second network according to a secondnetwork protocol; examining information received from each of theplurality of mobile stations in the predefined range and selecting amobile station of the plurality of mobile stations as a proxy mobilestation based on the examined information; and sending, using the thirdnetwork protocol, a proxy request to the proxy mobile station, andaccessing, using the third network protocol, the network resource viathe proxy mobile station.
 10. The mobile station of claim 9, wherein thememory device stores operating code that, when executed by theprocessing unit, causes the processing unit to access the networkresource via the proxy mobile station using the third network protocolby accessing the network resource dedicated to at least one ofpush-to-talk operations, telephony, Voice over Long Term Evolution(VoLTE), IP Multimedia Subsystem services, video, text or multimediamessaging, streaming applications, social network data, presence,location, status, data applications, web services, Web real timecommunication, sensor information, analytics information, or computeraided dispatch queries.
 11. The mobile station of claim 10, wherein thememory device stores operating code that, when executed by theprocessing unit, causes the processing unit to examine informationreceived from each of the plurality of mobile stations by examining atleast one of: run-time attributes of each of the plurality of mobilestations, capabilities of each of the plurality of mobile stations, apriority associated with at least one of an application, a user or anincident associated with each of the plurality of mobile stations, or apriority associated with at least one of an application, a user or anincident associated with the first mobile station.
 12. The mobilestation of claim 9, wherein the memory device stores operating codethat, when executed by the processing unit, causes the processing unitto access the network resource via the proxy mobile station subsequentto receiving a positive response to the proxy request from the proxymobile station.
 13. The mobile station of claim 9, wherein the memorydevice stores operating code that, when executed by the processing unit,causes the processing unit to perform the functions of: sending a secondproxy request to at least one other mobile station subsequent toreceiving a status update from the proxy mobile station; using the atleast one other mobile station as a new proxy mobile station; andaccessing the network resource via the new proxy mobile station.
 14. Themobile station of claim 9, wherein one of the first network protocol andthe second network protocol is a broadband network protocol and theother network protocol of the first network protocol and the secondnetwork protocol is a narrowband network protocol.
 15. The mobilestation of claim 14, wherein the third network protocol is one of aWi-Fi protocol, an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers802.15 protocol, a Third Generation Partnership Project ProSe protocol,a Land Mobile Radio Direct Mode protocol, a Bluetooth protocol, or aZigbee protocol.